Adeptus Mechanicus
The Adeptus Mechanicus is the official Imperial name within the Adeptus Terra for the Cult Mechanicus or Cult of the Machine. The Mechanicus acknowledge the Emperor of Mankind as the ruler of the Imperium, but not the religious truth of the Imperial Cult or the Ecclesiarchy. Instead, the Mechanicus follows its own dark and mysterious scriptures and worships the deity they call the Machine God or the "Omnissiah." The Adeptus Mechanicus believes knowledge is the true manifestation of divinity in the universe, and all creatures and artefacts that embody knowledge are holy because of it. The Emperor is the supreme object of worship for humanity because he comprehends so much, understanding more about the true nature of reality than any other being in existence. The Adeptus Mechanicus also regard organic flesh as weak and view the removal and replacement of biological tissue with mechanical, bionic parts as sacred. Most elder Tech-priests have few organic parts left and eventually become more machine than man. The Adeptus Mechanicus is based on Mars, the very first Forge World of the Imperium, and they are the sole rulers of the Red Planet. They provide the technical and scientific experts of the Imperium and field armies of massive Titans, Mechanicus Electro-priests, Skitarii and combat Servitors. History The Adeptus Mechanicus is an organization that as the Cult Mechanicus actually predates the Imperium of Man itself, and was known originally as the Mechanicum of Mars. Though the Adeptus Mechanicus was formally integrated into the Imperium by the Treaty of Mars almost 10,000 years before the "present" of the 41st Millennium at the dawn of the Emperor's Great Crusade to reunite Mankind, it retains an unparalleled degree of autonomy from the rest of the Adeptus Terra for an Imperial institution. Whereas nearly all the citizens of the Imperium follow one of the various sects of the Imperial Cult that worships the Emperor of Mankind as the God-Emperor, the Adeptus Mechanicus is virtually synonymous with the Cult Mechanicus, another faith that could easily be considered heretical by the rest of the Imperium if the Adeptus Mechanicus was not essential to the survival of the Imperium and if the tech-priests had not proven their loyalty to the Emperor in countless ways. The Adeptus Mechanicus is vitally important to humanity because the Imperium, despite its technologically advanced state, has a very limited scientific knowledge of how its technology actually functions. This has only reinforced the prevailing Imperial view that the building and use of advanced machinery is almost a magical or religious act, fraught with ritual and inviolable instructions. The Adeptus Mechanicus, with its inherent understanding of the Machine Spirit and the Machine God, has a near-monopoly on Standard Template Construct (STC) designs and other advanced Imperial technological knowledge, and consequently wields a tremendous amount of power in the Imperium as the primary manufacturer, maintainer and repairer of everything from basic farming equipment to interstellar warships. Mars The birthplace of the Adeptus Mechanicus was the ancient Forge World of Mars. Mars was colonized very early in human history, even before the Dark Age of Technology, and developed a society different from Terra both culturally and in terms of technological advancement. The arid, rusty surface of Mars was terraformed, and under a man-made oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, the Martian colony flourished, though it remained politically independent from Terra. When the era of human interstellar colonization began, both Terra and Mars served as the co-equal mother worlds to countless new human colonies. During the Dark Age of Technology, the two empires of Terra and Mars co-existed, to the mutual benefit of both. At the height of its splendor during the Dark Age, and even later in the anarchic Age of Strife, Mars dispatched hundreds of colony fleets into the void. Many perished in the terrible Warp Storms that engulfed the galaxy at that time before the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh, but others survived. Those who did founded new Forge Worlds in the name of the Machine God and built on them a likeness of the great factories and temples of their distant homeworld. The onset of the Age of Strife brought an end to the glory and peace of the ancient interstellar human domain. Across the galaxy, Mankind suddenly turned upon itself as a new breed of Warp-attuned psychic humans emerged and Warp Storms engulfed the galaxy, rendering interstellar travel and communication dangerous to the point of impossibility. Civil war engulfed thousands of human worlds, even the twin human homeworlds of Terra and Mars. Many warring factions vied for power on Mars and waged a brutal civil conflict using arcane and unimaginably destructive weaponry, including psychic abilities. The carefully constructed atmosphere of Mars was burned away, and once more the rusty surface of the planet was exposed to the deadly radiations of the Sun. The terraformed Martian environment, which had teemed with Terran life for centuries, was rendered barren again. The Martian combatants now fought in the same red-hued wastelands that the first human colonists from Terra had found millenia before. Much of the Martian population retreated underground, as any who were not equipped with a radiation and life support suit could not long survive on the Red Planet's harsh surface. The Adeptus Mechanicus has not always proven itself completely loyal to the Imperium. During the Horus Heresy many Adeptus Mechanicus units declared for the Warmaster Horus and fought against those still loyal to the Emperor as the Dark Mechanicus. The Fabricator General himself sided with the Warmaster, but his deputy, the Fabricator Locum Kane, remained loyal. Horus swayed the Fabricator General to the side of Chaos by promising him a complete STC database from the planet of Drakonis-Three-Eleven and a senior Adept in Horus' 63rd Expeditionary Fleet named Regulus with other STCs recovered from the Auretian Technocracy, and promised much else in terms of technological knowledge to the Adeptus Mechanicus in return for their allegiance. The Cult Mechanicus The Cult Mechanicus believes knowledge to be the manifestation of divinity, and holds that anything embodying or containing knowledge is holy because of it. The supreme object of devotion is therefore the omniscient Machine God (also known as the Deus Mechanicus or Omnissiah), an eminent and omnipotent spirit governing all machinery and knowledge. Generally, this deity is held to be either subordinate to or an aspect of the God-Emperor (or, most commonly within the Cult itself, both are held to be aspects or faces of the same divine being). The Omnissiah is believed to be friendly to humanity, and to be the originator of all human technological and scientific knowledge. Subservient to the Omnissiah are the pantheistic Machine Spirits, who are believed to inhabit all machinery and which must be appeased before a piece of technology is used or repaired, lest the machinery fail. It should be noted that the Void Dragon, one of the C'tan Star Gods of the Necrons, is supposedly hidden somewhere beneath the surface of Mars. This could be what the Adeptus Mechanicus actually worship as the Machine God. The existence of the C'tan beneath Mars is a highly classified secret of the Imperium. The Quest for Knowledge The ultimate goal of the Cult Mechanicus is to understand and fully comprehend the glory of the Omnissiah. The communal and personal attempt at this form of enlightenment is known as the Quest for Knowledge. The Cult believes that all knowledge already exists in the universe, and it is primarily a matter of time before it can be gathered together to complete the Quest. The Cult is therefore disinclined to perform much basic research and development. Despite this, some original scientific research does continue on Mars and the other Forge Worlds of the Imperium, enough to keep Imperial technology advancing steadily, if extremely slowly. The Mysteries of the Cult Mechanicus 1. Life is directed motion. 2. The spirit is the spark of life. 3. Sentience is the ability to learn the value of knowledge. 4. Intellect is the understanding of knowledge. 5. Sentience is the basest form of Intellect. 6. Understanding is the True Path to Comprehension. 7. Comprehension is the key to all things. 8. The Omnissiah knows all, comprehends all. Factions There are numerous religious factions within the Adeptus Mechanicus, including the Khamrians, who pursue the forbidden science of artificial, or "abominable" intelligence which has been forbidden since the catastrophe caused by the Iron Men who attacked humanity during the Dark Age of Technology; the Omnissiads, who seek to summon the Machine God into a physical avatar; and the Organicists, who see biological enhancement using genetic engineering as equal to the more common cybernetic enhancements for which the Tech-priests of the Mechanicus are best known. Some of these sects are accepted as legitimate interpretations of the Omnissiah, others are persecuted by the broader Cult Mechanicus as heretics. The portion of the Adeptus Mechanicus that split off to serve Chaos and the Traitor Space Marine Legions during the Horus Heresy is called the Dark Mechanicus. These Chaos-worshiping Magi seek to combine the power of the Warp with that of the Machine God in the name of the Ruinous Powers. They are also responsible for constructing the majority of the war-machines for the Chaos Space Marines. Such creations include the Stalk Tanks of the Blood Pact, the Hell Talon fighter-bombers and the gargantuan Harbinger bomber. It is also believed that some Dark Mechanicum Adepts have split into the Chaos faction known as the Obliterators. Tech-Priests Any member of the Cult Mechanicus over the rank of menial will often be referred to as a Tech-priest, though Magi and higher ranks are usually referred to by their rank. Tech-priests can usually be recognized by their clothing, which unless their work requires otherwise will usually be robes of rust-red or black coloration, and by their cybernetic nature. Some Tech-priests also carry a large wrench-like tool, that doubles as an ax-headed close-combat weapon, adorned with Adeptus Mechanicus imagery upon the head. The amount of cybernetic augmentation found in a Tech-priest is highly dependent on his rank within the Cult Mechanicus; a novice may have only one or two augmetic systems, if any, while very senior members may have only a few biological organs left in their bodies. Common cybernetic augmentations include: *Bionic limbs and organs, which may replace the originals because of an accident or simply because of improved operation or the special needs the Tech-priest may have in his chosen work or scientific research. *Bionic eyes, which often allow a tech-priest to see beyond the normal spectrum of human vision or boost light input to allow night vision and similar functions, zoom in/magnify an image and so on. *Mechadendrites, mechanical tentacles that attach to the spine, limbs or similar locations to afford the tech-priest greater mobility, lifting and manipulation capabilities, easy interface with much other machinery and, in many cases, a handy weapon in a fight. Larger mechadendrites can often extrude a monomolecular blade or simply be used as a blunt instrument or to throw projectiles. *Autosanguination, a process by which all the blood in a human body is removed and replaced with a more efficient oxygen and waste-carrying synthetic substitute, allowing for the easier healing of wounds and more effective immunological defense against disease and toxins. *Electoos, metal circuits embedded in the epidermic skin of tech-priests to allow them to consciously channel electricity. These can be used in combat, or to revive a recalcitrant machine spirit. Those who specialize in the use of these and become essentially a human electric generator are known as electro-priests or "Luminen". *Electro-grafts, which are similar to electoos in that they are electric circuits embedded in the epidermic layer of the skin, but are distinct in their purpose. Electro-grafts serve as an interface for the tech-priest with electronic machinery, particularly sources of data like cogitators (computers). Given the right data-sources, a tech-priest with electro-grafts can acquire many skills and much specialist knowledge instantly. One example of this are the Mechanicus are the pilots from the planet Glavia who have electro-grafts in the skin of their hands to enable them to interface with their ships with much greater efficiency. *Vox-casters and voice-synthesizers, which often replace the normal speech organs of more senior tech-priests. The quality of the synthesized voice is highly variable, from stilted and unnatural mechanical voices only as good as or worse than twenty-first century voice synthesizer standards to voices that sound almost entirely natural. The tech-priests themselves generally don't seem to care what they sound like as long as they are understood. The main benefit of a vox-caster appears to be that it allows the priest to communicate in what is termed "Binary". Essentially, Binary consists of bursts of coded noise with a twittering quality that can be used as an extremely effective cant known only to other members of the Adeptus Mechanicus (according to Caves of Ice, even the Inquisition cannot translate it) or can be used as a means of datafile transfer as in Crossfire. More uncommon but still occasionally practiced Mechanicus augmentations include the: *Mind Impulse Unit (MIU), a direct link between a human brain and a larger piece of external machinery allowing control by thought alone as if the machinery was a part of the human's body. These are most commonly found in massive pieces of technology such as Titans and starships, and very rarely in a normal tech-priest. Some rare tech-priests may use an MIU to control a shoulder-mounted weapon or similar devices. *Binary cortex, an operation in which the brains of two tech-priests are joined in one body. Usually used only when two tech-priests study the same subject and otherwise align very well in their thinking. *Rite of Pure Thought, an operation which replaces the brain's creative, emotional right half with a cogitator (computer). This frees the techpriest of any remaining human emotion, basically turning him into a work-obsessed sociopath. However, this procedure is considered somewhat extreme even among the usually unsentimental tech-priests. Adeptus Mechanicus Hierarchy The Cult Mechanicus is ordered in a strong hierarchy, but details on this hierarchy are not always clear. Generally, more highly positioned tech-priests are expected to have more seniority and knowledge than lower ones, and are consequently more theologically important as greater repositories of knowledge. A tentative mapping of this hierarchy, in order from highest to lowest, will follow below. It should be noted that specialists such as genetors and logis may not have any specific rank within the Cult as a group, but rather be ranked as individuals. Titan crews are listed last not because of their position, but because of their relative separation from the rest of the Cult. Hierarchy: Fabricator General, Magos (Magos Explorator and Magos Errant), Genetor, Logis, Artisan, Enginseers, Skitarii, Menials, Servitors Collegia Titanicus Princeps, Moderati, Tactical officer, Techmarine Fabricator General The Fabricator General of Mars is the highest-ranking individual within the Cult Mechanicus (in his capacity as the Magos Mechanicus), and runs not only the Adeptus Mechanicus but also governs the planet of Mars itself as the Imperial Governor. As befits his position, the Fabricator-General of Mars has a permanent seat on the council that runs the Imperium, known as the High Lords of Terra. Rulers of individual Forge Worlds are referred to as Fabricator General as well, but only the Fabricator General of Mars holds a seat on the High Lords of Terra. Fabricator Locum The Fabricator Locum is the second highest-ranking individual on the planet of Mars. Fabricator Locum assists the Fabricator General with the governance of Mars, including the meeting of production quotas and ensuring the correct devotions to the Machine God are observed at all times. The most notable Fabricator Locum was Kane who sided with the Emperor during the Horus Heresy. Researchers Magos A Magos is a master of technological discipline, having devoted many years of service to the Omnissiah. There are many specialist divisions within the Adeptus Mechanicus known as Divisiones. Magi from these are given a rank containing the specialization of their Divisio, such as Magos Alchemys, Magos Biologis, Magos Technicus, Magos Logis, Magos Xenologis, Magos Lexmechanicus, Magos Orbologis, Magos Cybernetica, Magos Xenobiologis, Magos Astrologicus, Magos Digitalis, Magos Fabricator, Magos Genetus, Magos Physic, and possibly many more. There are two higher ranks that are variations of Magos, including Archmagos and Archmagos Veneratus. It is not known what the specific connotations of these titles are, though presumably they are indicative of greater seniority and experience. *Magos Explorator: Obsessed with the quest for knowledge, the tech-priests known as Magos Explorator search high and low across the galaxy for lost Standard Template Construct databases and ancient human scientific and technical knowledge lost during the Age of Strife. A breed apart from regular tech-priests, any Explorator or member of his team will willingly walk into forgotten catacombs, even at risk of death, for mere snippets of long-forgotten knowledge. *Magos Errant: Something of a jack of all trades, a Magos Errant studies several scientific and engineering disciplines, including chemistry, genetics, metallurgy and more. They are then attached to Rogue Trader fleets and other similar expeditions by treaty between the Adeptus Mechanicus and the individual Rogue Trader house or the Imperium itself if the expedition is sponsored by the Administratum. In return for Adeptus Mechanicus expertise in maintenance and science, the Magos is allowed to study interesting sites the expedition comes near, transport sensitive materials and generally make use of the expedition's resources. Genetor Essentially geneticists, the Genetors are typically found accompanying Imperial or Rogue Trader expeditions to new or rediscovered worlds to sample new DNA or to introduce common Imperial animals to the ecosystem, such as the Grox, an animal that resembles a Warhammer Fantasy Cold One, and which is a common source of meat on many worlds. Logis The accountants of the Mechanicus, the Logis are statisticians, analysts, actuaries and logisticians. They can accurately predict almost anything with very small margins of error, making them extremely useful to anyone with an artillery piece. Considered prophetic by some, the Logis are also very good at predicting future trends and forecasts. Lexmechanic Also known as Calculus Logi, Lexmechanics are the librarians and scribes of the Mechanicus. Their purpose is to compile and rationalize data so it can be entered into a central computer repository. They can work with computer speed and accuracy, assembling battlefield reports, economic statistics, planetary reports, and so forth. They may be assigned duties throughout the Adeptus Terra and not just in the Mechanicus. Rune Priest The rune priest's role is to inscribe runes and chant liturgies over machines as part of the Cult ritual of initiation. They are trained in the most arcane branches of scientific lore such as intuitive mechanics, speculation, and improvisation. Rune Priests are famous for their lateral thinking, which may be called upon when strict logic and standard procedures fail. Builders Artisan Artisans are exactly what the name implies; they build and design pieces of technology for various purposes, from agriculture to war--they are essentially the Adeptus Mechanicus' corps of engineers. Usually found with an entourage of Servitors, these adepts command labour forces that could rival small armies in size. Enginseers Enginseers are the technicians of the Cult Mechanicus, specially trained in maintaining and repairing machines. They are often seconded to the Imperial Guard in order to maintain and repair the vehicles of the Guard. Although most Guardsmen revere their vehicles enough not to risk annoying an Enginseer through "tinkering", some unique vehicles have been created from spare parts in time of need - much to the chagrin of the Enginseers present. Among their fellow tech-priests, Enginseers are afforded little respect, as their labors do not normally contribute to the Quest for Knowledge because they only maintain existing machines. Rather, they are viewed as lowly but essential cogs in the great machine that is the Cult. Most Enginseers have mechanical arms attached to their back in order to facilitate their repair work. Techmarine Techmarines are chosen from the ranks of the Space Marine Chapters for their technological aptitude. After being inducted into their Chapter they are sent to Mars for many years of training, and when they come back, they serve the same role with their Chapter as an Enginseer does with the Imperial Guard, maintaining and repairing their Chapter's weapons, equipment, vehicles and space vessels. Although they are not officially part of the Adeptus Mechanicus, they are considered "honorary members" of the Adeptus Mechanicus by both their Chapter and the Adeptus Mechanicus itself. Their power armor is modified to accommodate their cybernetic enhancements and their back packs are upgraded with several servo arms. Their armor is painted the red rust of the Adeptus Mechanicus, but their Chapter badge is retained and displayed on one of their shoulder guards, so as not to anger the power armor's machine spirit. Techmarines are able to wear full servo harnesses, which are huge harnesses armed with servo arms, plasma cutters, and flamers. They are commonly accompanied by a full retinue of servitors; gun servitors, combat servitors, and/or tech servitors. They bear a power axe with the Adeptus Mechanicus symbol on the head, as both a symbol of office and as a weapon. Iron Fathers The Iron Hands Space Marine Chapter has closer ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus than is normal for the Adeptus Astartes, and like the Mechanicus their Marines consider flesh to be weak, while cybernetic implants are pure. The Iron Father fulfills the role of techmarine, chaplain and commander in an Iron Hands company. Iron Priests The Iron Priest is the Space Wolves equivalent of the techmarine. Iron Priests look after the many technical systems in the Space Wolves headquarters, the Fang. They supervise engineering projects and all the other complex technical tasks undertaken every day. The skills of these grim and taciturn artisans are both respected and feared by their fellow Space Wolves, most of whom view the mechanical and scientific arts as a dark and frighteningly arcane science. Transmechanic These are technicians or service engineers who specialize in dealing with communications technology. Like Enginseers, they are often assigned duties in other Imperial organizations. Warriors Electro-Priest Electro-priests are techno-zealots devoted to the Cult Mechanicus and they support tech-priests in battle. As he goes into battle, the electro-priest turns himself into a crackling fount of electrical energy, destroying everything he touches before he collapses from the strain. Skitarii The Skitarii are the cybernetic fighting forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Skitarii regiments that go to war along with the Mechanicus' Titans are equipped with various esoteric weapons of war. Part man and part machine, most skitarii are cybernetically-linked to their personal weapon for increased performance. Skitarii are born into service (either natural-born humans who are cybernetically enhanced or in some cases clones or vat-born humans who are cybernetically enhanced from the moment of their accelerated "birth"), training with their weapon until they are of the age to be sent to a warzone. To guarantee their undying loyalty to the Mechanicus they usually undergo various forms of psychosurgery to wipe their minds of both emotion and personality. Skitarii can be represented in the game by using Imperial Guard regiment rules with a focus on doctrines and equipment that would be appropriate to a cybernetic army, and are often referred to as "Tech-Guard" in the fiction. Some Mechanicus factions recycle the bodies of dead servitors and Skitarii as raw material for the formation of new vat-grown servitors or Skitarii. Menials As their name suggests, menials are the menial laborers of the Mechanicus, used primarily for unskilled labor too complex for servitors to economically perform. Menials are not considered tech-priests, but are usually indoctrinated with the beliefs of the Cult Mechanicus in a simplified form. Skitarii and to some extent tech-priests are often recruited from the ranks of the menials on Mars and the other Forge Worlds. Servitors Servitors are mindless slave cyborgs, designed and programmed to perform menial, rudimentary or dangerous tasks for the Mechanicus and other elements of the Imperium like the Imperial Guard or even the Space Marine Chapters. There exists an endless variety of Servitors, from heavy mining Servitors to battlefield Gun-Servitors and elite Praetorian Servitors. A Servitor's biological components are obtained either by growing genetically-engineered human bodies artificially in culture vats, or by using the lobotomized bodies of condemned Imperial criminals or failed prospective Space Marines - all are subsequently augmented with mechanical limbs, computer uplink jacks and whatever electronic accessories are deemed necessary to facilitate their ordained tasks. As they cannot think for themselves since their higher brain functions have all been disabled, they are essentially nothing more than partially-organic robots which use a portion of a human brain as their central processing unit. Some Servitors can be installed with combat programs installed which enable them to function as unswervingly loyal bodyguards. In the battlefields of the game, they often form part of the retinues of Tech-priests, Techmarines and Inquisitors. These are seen on tabletop battlefields as Gun-Servitors, bearing heavy weaponry; Combat-Servitors, armed with close-quarters combat equipment; and Technical Servitors, which are intended to perform repairs and construction duties instead of fighting. Particularly large and heavily armed and armoured Servitors are referred to as Praetorian Servitors. Towering over even a Space Marine, Praetorians are created either from cybernetically-enhanced vat-grown genetically engineered giants or lobotomized Ogryns. Collegia Titanicus The Collegia Titanica is the division of the Adeptus Mechanius that commands the Titans - colossal robotic combat walkers which are the most potent ground weapons capable of being deployed by the Imperium. The Collegia was one of the groups of the Adeptus Mechanicus that went over to the Warmaster Horus almost en masse alongside the Legio Cybernetica during the Horus Heresy. The name "Adeptus Titanica" is also used for the corps of Titans fielded by the Mechanicus. The Collegia is divided into divisions, such as Divisio Mandati, Divisio Telepathica and Divisio Investigatus. Most important of these is the Divisio Militaris being the one that actually includes the Battle Titans, and is itself further divided into the Titan Legions: groupings of Titans such as the Traitor "Death's Head" Legion, the "Fire Wasps" Legion or "War Griffons" Legion. Each Titan Legion is commanded by an officer known as the Grandmaster. Each Titan is manned by a crew consisting of a single Princeps in command of the Titan, assisted by a Moderati, Sensori, Steersman, Tech-priest, Enginseer, and Servitors. The number of each is dependent on the type of Titan. *Princeps: Princeps training begins at an early age and ends with eight years at the Collegiate Titanicus. The cadets receive their uniforms and cybernetic implants in the final year, before field-training starts with an attachment to a currently-operating Titan for observational tours. A Princeps commands his Titan through a MIU (Mind Impulse Unit, see above) link to the Titan's "machine spirit", controlling both his crew's actions and the Titan's movements through his thoughts. The Titan becomes an extension of him; when damaged, he feels pain, when victorious, he feels elation. This link grows so strong that his mental health will slowly deteriorate when unlinked from the machine. He can assume direct control of any system, though it is usually aiming and fire control that is taken. In a Warlord or Imperator-class Titan the Princeps is placed in an amniotic casket in order to control the Titan without difficulty. Regardless, Titans must have both a Princeps and a command crew to function. The Princeps' relation to the Titan is similar to that of a Space Marine within a Dreadnought cybernetic shell. However, Titans are capable of eventually developing their own sentient minds from centuries of experience. The cybernetic link in some cases gets so strong that the Princeps becomes neurologically integrated with the Titan, and cannot be removed until he dies of natural causes. A Princeps who commands a Legion of Titans is a "Princeps Maximus", though Titans are rarely fielded as an entire Legion in games of Warhammer 40,000 Epic. *Moderati: The Moderati are the officers who comprise the command crew of a Titan that take the Princeps' orders and act on them, monitoring the Titan's auspices and scanners, firing the weapons and making sure all systems are functioning normally. Although they also have MIU links to the Titan like the Princeps, they cannot assume command nor can they interface directly with the Princeps' own dominant neural link, instead using their links solely to provide information about the Titan's state in battle. *Sensori : The third-ranking member of the bridge command crew, the Sensori is the Titan's Tactical Officer and controls and monitors all the sensory inputs of a Titan, from the aural sensors to the simple visual inputs. It is also his job to spot and acquire targets for the Moderati (or Princeps) to engage. They also deal with all Titan communications, decrypting or relaying vox messages to the Princeps' display screen on his command throne as necessary. *Steersman: The fourth member of the bridge crew. The Steersman controls the Titan's stability and is essentially the driver of the Titan. Duties Within the Imperium Besides scientific research and maintaining the Imperium's machines, there are many important duties that the Adeptus Mechanicus performs in order to keep the Imperium working. * Caretakers of the Generatorium: The future requires power and this power is supplied by the generatorums, large, nuclear fusion-based power plants. The creation and operation of these generatoriums are the function of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the information behind their operations and construction are guarded from outsiders. * Caretakers of the Genetorium: Like the Generatorium, the Genetorium is vital to a planet's survivability. The Genetoriums provide a list of all plants and animals that are either on a planet or will be introduced into the planet. A Genetorium is normally run by a Magos and plays a vital role in the Inquisition's activities. Their duties also extend to searching for genetic impurities in baseline human populations and in the hunting down of dangerous human mutants. *Caretakers of the Librarium: All of the knowledge in the Imperium is stored in the vast Librariums. Along with the Administratum, the tech-priests store, guard, and reproduce what knowledge they can attain. *Caretakers of the Manufactorium: As with the Librariums, the tech-priests administer and protect the manufactoriums of the Forge Worlds that ensure that the Imperium is provided with the goods and machines that ensure its survival. *All Space Marine Chapters are expected to pay a tithe of 5% of their gene-seed every year to the Adeptus Mechanicus so that the Mechanicus' tech-priests can monitor the health of each Chapter and facilitate the creation of new Chapters from existing gene-seed lines. Sources *''Warhammer 40,000 Codex Imperialis'' (2nd Edition) *''Fanatic Magazine'' #5 * * * * * Category:A Category:Imperium Category:Adepts